


Diplomatic Dinners

by Davechicken



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 23:57:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10955412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Davechicken/pseuds/Davechicken
Summary: Leia didn't think he'd come.





	Diplomatic Dinners

Things are… difficult. The uneasy truce between the Resistance and the newly-formed Empire is… fraught. 

Although the worlds that have fallen under the new Empire’s sway claim they’ve done so willingly, Leia has never been able to reconcile herself with a system of government that’s so antithetical to her republican, democratic core. 

But this is - in a way - better than a complete, martial-law junta. 

Compromise, she tells herself. People have to be free to make their own decisions. If their informed decision is that the Order is better, then that’s that. She has to make the Republic worth wanting. That’s how you defeat this.

Until then… the truce means less deaths. It means each side can work to build their worlds up, and the end result… if it’s fair… will be the victory of the superior ideology. (Hers.)

This is one of many events that they’ve organised, since the truce. Formalising and re-enforcing the peace between them, giving the public the reassurance of safety. It’s harder, too, to attack someone you’ve been around socially, and she knows all of this.

Still. It’s difficult to toast with those who - until recently - wanted you dead. (And maybe still do.)

She stands with a gaggle of senators and a few Imperial officers, smiling a smile that’s entirely political, when she hears the tones of the voices in the room shift.

Leia has met the Emperor - Hux - many times. They were key in the finalising of this deal, and she… accepts he’s much of a lesser evil compared to Snoke. She doesn’t _like_ him, but she respects him, and that’s…

…it’s…

She thought he wouldn’t come. She thought the reclusive Knight - Hux’s champion, the Leader-Slayer - would never grace a function like this. He’d hated them as a child, and the hatred had persisted, but now she sees him.

He’s dressed in black, but it’s less… heavy and concealing than she remembers the images of his old outfits. His face is covered with a half-mask, just over the eyes, leaving his mouth free. Hux wears one similar, obviously to appease him. 

It must be a compromise, she thinks. 

They walk in, arms linked, taking a slow circuit to the long and open bar. Every person between Leia and her son seems to vanish, and she feels a familiar… ache. A tug, a pull, and she watches as his visored face turns to her. 

Their gazes lock for a moment, and Leia… oh, she misses him. She knows… she knows this is better for him, too: no Snoke in his head, no… torment. But he’s still not spoken to her, and this is the closest they’ve been. 

Leia doesn’t go over to him, but she sees the very subtle nod of his head, feels a… gentle nudge to her mind. It’s a first attempt at contact, and she smiles past the tears welling up. 

_I’m here. Whenever you want to talk._

Kylo seems to nod again, but then his face turns, and he’s listening to Hux once more. 

She’s going to come to every damn function she can, from now on. Even if he won’t come home… maybe he’ll talk to her again. There’s so much pain, so much… insult and injury passed back and forth, but… he’s her son. Her blood. 

Maybe in time he’ll let her back into his heart, because she never let him leave her own.


End file.
